10 Simple Steps To Secure Personal Data In Your Organisation's IT Systems

Fines for breaches of the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 ("PDPA") are going toget heftier: up to 10% of annual Singapore turnover or up to S$1 million (whichever higher).

This year,SPH Magazinewas fined S$26,000 because a hacker accessed the account of a moderator of HardwareZone and attempted to view user profiles more than 700,000 times. The problem? The account password was simple and unchanged for 10 years.

We set out 10 simple steps to secure your organisation's information technology (IT) systems to reduce the risk of PDPA breaches.

1. Set Strong Passwords

Require your staff to set strong passwords which have at least 8 characters containing at least 1 alphabetical character and 1 numeric character. Passwords should not have reference to the organisation's or user's names (Re Chizzle Pte Ltd[2020] SGPDPCR 1). If deemed necessary, require two-factor authentication of accounts.